Imaginary friends?

[nintendogurl1990]

Sometimes when I'm lonely I think of my imaginary friend Katie Sullivan. She has autism, like me. Has anyone else made up a person or creature to comfort them when they feel alone?

 

[WildCat]

Not exactly "friends", but these characters all with their own personalities (to the best of my ability anyways, my social insight still sucks). I'm not too fond of plagiarism, art or otherwise, so anything that I sketched or kept in memory was completely original.

I used to have a slew of them back in my school days to keep me occupied, but with time and maturity I've no longer any need for them.

 

[BruceCM]

Sadly, I can't imagine well enough to try it or I probably would, since I can't have real friends. Sad but the official position, on several forums like this, is that friend can mean ANYTHING that anybody wants, although nobody then accepts what it means to me. When they're the ones insisting on it meaning anything. Tried discussing it here & can't get anywhere with the idea.

 

[kiramonopoly]

I certainly have imaginaRy friends, and I'm 17 yeats old!
My friends Fred and Liam.
Fred usually says what I WISH I could yell in someone's face, or do something I wish I could do, or they just come and stand next to me whenever I am bored, talking to someone, during
School, walking around, or pretty much any given point in time.
Liam is a little 'Slow'. Maybe he has Aspergers too. But he's my friend and almost like little briber, but he's really cute too.
I've had Fred for a long time, but I had Hannah before him, and sAmelia before
Her, and Charlotte before her, and ect. Ect.
Yeah, alot of times at school and anywhere I talk tr them out loud, whispering or mumbling, usually when Im trying to figure
Something out, or thinking about something I don't understand, and talking about it out loud is basically reasoning with myself I suppose. lol
Hahaa
So yeah, I still have them, and they are great.

 

[salemzarves]

I had quite a few of them growing up. My first one was an 8 foot muscular albino guy with really long hair and bright green eyes, i knew him since i was 3, but he was a lot younger then and looked smaller when i first met him. he was a good freind of mine, he would always be around when nobody would want to hang out with me. he has an honest personality like i do, we would always do crazy stuff together, and we comminutated telepathically. Later he left for Germany and i met another freind named picon, he was kind of antisocial and told me that he burned down a school, and that he was on the run from the secret cheifs or the fates, they eventually caught him and now he is in some metaphyical prison or asylem. I still see a lot of invisible people, and I meet most of them in my dreams.

 

[IContainMultitudes]

My mom tells me that I had a couple of imaginary friends as a child, but I don't remember them very well.

As an adult, I identify a lot with Uncle Max in this Calvin and Hobbes strip:

 

[IdahoRose]

I'm 20 years old and I still have imaginary friends. I've been an imaginary friend-haver since I was 5, though which friends I have at a given time change to reflect my obsessions. Nearly all of them have been my favourite fictional characters from films or television, but my current ones are fictionalized versions of actresses Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway.

 

[Spinning Compass]

Yes, over the years I have had quite a few of them. Obviously, it's not something I talk about with others. But in some ways my "friends" have helped me work through issues, by just letting me bounce ideas off of them. Sometimes we have philosophical discussions.

I would say that the imaginary friends issue is the biggest stumbling block I have with religion and Christianity in particular. Anyone else feel the same way?

 

[Frito64]

I don't know if I would call this an imaginary friend, but I made up a character recently that helps me deal with my problems. In addition to Asperger's, I have a hormone problem known as Klinefelter syndrome (low male hormones and an additional "x" (female) chromosome). I am not gay, but very in touch iwth my feminie side, and I am emotional at times as a woman may be. So I made up a character named Frita Klineberger - the "Frita" is a feminized version of my name, and Klineberger is my combination of Klinefelter syndrome and Asperger's. When I find myself obsessing about something or acting compulsie or emitonally, I'll say "ah - it's Frita Klineberger." She annoys me at times but I love her beccuase sie s a part of who I am.

 

[confused_becca]

i kinda thought i was the only one who made up people. i usually borrow people from shows, comics, and books that i like, but occasionally i come up with my own.

 

[Arashi222]

I guess one would call the characters that I talk to and write stories about my imaginary friends. They were the reason I got into Ball Jointed Dolls too. I have a protector character, other characters that similar to me I have one that is blind (as I am visually impaired). So I suppose mine often help me cope with not having a lot of friends.

 

[epheph]

I am fourteen years old and I have had my current imaginary friends since I was about seven. The oldest one helps me when I run, because he's faster than I am and he'll push me to keep going. I also need to talk to my imaginary friends and organize their affairs more when I am in a new environment. Even when I first got these imaginary friends, I knew that I would be considered too old for them, so the only people I talked to about them were my best friend and my little sister. My best friend, now fifteen, and my little sister, now eleven, have both outgrown their imaginary friends, but I have not, so I now have nobody that I can talk to about my imaginary friends other than my imaginary friends themselves.

 

[smith2267]

No, I think books served that purpose for me. The characters were my friends.

 

[Ylva]

Yes, over the years I have had quite a few of them. Obviously, it's not something I talk about with others. But in some ways my "friends" have helped me work through issues, by just letting me bounce ideas off of them. Sometimes we have philosophical discussions.

I would say that the imaginary friends issue is the biggest stumbling block I have with religion and Christianity in particular. Anyone else feel the same way?

Pretty much. I call them "the voices in my head" to other people, because it's a lot easier to pass schizofrenia off as a joke for whatever reason… But the fact is, they have faces, I can't "hear" them without "seeing" them as well. They are my different sides weighing in on discussions I have with myself.

And, without wanting to be rude… if most people don't have that, I can sort of understand how they would get bored with their thoughts.

 

[Flinty]

I had one during my elementary school years. He lived on the road by the local beach and never left that area, just keeping me from getting lonely while walking past the beach; once past the beach, it was literally two minutes to get home, so I could handle that.

 

[umbrellabeach]

No, I think books served that purpose for me. The characters were my friends.

Same here, only with Disney characters for me.

 

[Sylar]

I've actively tried on multiple occasions to not only create imaginary friends but create more versions of myself who would be able to take control of my body when I choose. No success on either. It's not an imagination issue so if anyone has tips

 

[Soup]

Nope. I like being alone so I don't want either real ones or imaginary ones.

 

[Ylva]

Wait, you can quiet your mind? What I wouldn't give for that skill.

 

[Laura]

Ever since I've been tiny I've had an imaginary white Andalusian horse that I name Francis, and I often imagine him following the car/train whenever I'm travelling. It gives me something to watch and somebody to talk to when I'm on my own, as to me, while he obviously doesn't speak, it's a way of rationalising my thoughts and putting my problems to rest. He's almost an ethereal, spiritual being, and it's like he represents my inner self somehow; shy, laid-back, kind and loving.